Birdathon, Shipley surprises

We’re revisiting two old topics this week: the Sea and Sage Audubon Birdathon and Shipley Nature Center’s spring fling.

First, birdathon. Several weeks ago, we announced that Vic’s team had seen 169 species of birds in one day and had come in a close second to Bruce Aird’s winning team. If Vic’s team had seen only two more species, they would have beaten Bruce’s team.

Well, it turns out that Bruce’s team was better at seeing birds than adding them up. When they retallied their final score, they came up with 168 species. That put Vic and his team in first place. Ah, vindication.

I had posited a battle between Vic and Bruce, stating that Bruce’s team always came in first, except for one time when Vic’s team won. Bruce modestly corrected me, explaining that his team had come in first only three times in the past 10 or 11 years. Mark Singer and his Tri-County Ringers won once (Bruce gave Mark’s team that nickname because Mark, a Huntington Beach resident, had recruited his other team members from Riverside and San Diego counties). Curt Johnson and Jerry Tolman also have won the event, as have Chris Obaditch and his team.

The honor of all-time top scorers went to Larry Tripp, Bettina Eastman and Jim Pike a few years back. They saw a whopping 185 species of birds in Orange County in one 24-hour period and set a record for a Big Day Count that has yet to be beaten. Still, whether he came in first or not, Bruce’s team almost always beat Vic’s team. Bruce was the man to beat in Vic’s eyes.

Bruce felt it was important, however, to point out that he does not consider himself to be a “super-birder.” Granted, few people are in the stratospheric realm of birders such as Doug Willick, Jim Pike, Brian Daniels and Robb Hamilton. But since they rarely compete in birdathons, their skills are irrelevant in this context.

But as for Bruce being modest, see for yourself. He said that he had been out of town for two weeks prior to birdathon, which left him with no time to scout out which rarities could be found where in the county. Vic noted that Bruce was further handicapped with three novice birders on his team, meaning that Bruce was doing most of the identification on his own. Despite this, Bruce still came up only two birds short of Vic’s team, which was composed of four excellent and experienced birders this year: Vic, Mark Singer, Tom Benson and John Green. Face it, Bruce. Like it or not, you’re a super-birder.